Zacks Research Forecasts Weaker Earnings for FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for FirstEnergy in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, March 18th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $0.60 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.61. The consensus estimate for FirstEnergy's current full-year earnings is $2.66 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for FirstEnergy's Q2 2025 earnings at $0.61 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.82 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.65 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.66 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $3.34 EPS.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.00.

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FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:FE traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.03. The company had a trading volume of 3,700,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,129,415. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $36.81 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $195,672,000 after buying an additional 1,232,040 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,334,000 after buying an additional 939,240 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 118.2% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,271,000 after buying an additional 888,800 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.